Directions in Highway Safety: Winter 2024 Issue

It’s been a notable year in traffic safety. The U.S. saw continued reductions in roadway fatalities while new partners and communities expanded collaborations to make our streets safer. Although some long-awaited rulemakings to advance vehicle technology moved forward, much more can and should be done. Check out “GHSA Wrapped” for more on our safety work over the last 12 months. 

GHSA is working with a diverse range of safety allies to give State Highway Safety Offices unrestricted grant funds to try innovative approaches, supplement proven strategies and identify emerging safety issues – all with the goal of ending traffic crashes. Over the past year, we’ve awarded more than $826,000 to SHSOs to reduce dangerous driving and make roads safer for everyone. Our initiatives include:

• Providing safe mobility options to youth in underserved areas
• Leveraging new data to better understand and address safety problems
• Encouraging the use of ride-hailing instead of driving impaired
• Increasing children's access to safe, active transportation
• Preventing distracted driving through public awareness and new technology
• Helping police identify and remove drunk and drug-impaired drivers from the road 

This holiday season, we can all do small things both at home and on the road to help protect everyone around us. GHSA and Amazon are partnering to share safe driving tips with delivery drivers and encourage customers to create a safe environment at their home by turning on lights and clearing sidewalks. Together, we can ensure everyone has a safe and joyous holiday season. See the tips and learn more. 

Fostering the next generation of traffic safety leaders is one of the most important things we can do. GHSA was incredibly proud to hold the 2024 Emerging Leaders in Highway Safety Seminar in Washington, D.C., earlier this year. We trained an amazing group of 28 eager, bright and passionate highway safety professionals representing 24 states and territories. Thank you to these rising leaders for their commitment and dedication to traffic safety!

Safety Roundup

• Youth Speak Out: Youth and Distracted Driving: A Social Media Toolkit for SHSOs, released earlier this month by GHSA, includes more than 60 youth-developed distracted driving videos and posts ready to use on social media. While the toolkit’s primary audience is SHSOs, the posts can be shared by any organization wishing to engage youth in taking action to address this critical traffic safety issue.
• It’s Not Me, It’s You: The latest edition of AAA’s Traffic Safety Culture Index found that 93% of drivers recognize the dangers of texting, emailing, and reading while driving but many of them (27-37%) admit to doing it anyway. See more data.
• Speed Safety Cameras: Michigan’s governor signed into law two bills permitting the use of speed safety cameras in work zones. Last year there were more than 8,000 work zone crashes in Michigan that killed 24. Meanwhile, a small town in Connecticut will be the first in the state with speed cameras under a program starting in January 2025.
• Remembering Safety Titans: GHSA mourns the passing of two titans in roadway safety: Alberto Gutier and Fred Zwonechek. Gutier served as Director of the Arizona Governor's Office of Highway Safety for more than 20 years, retiring in 2022. He was a strong and vocal supporter of the role of law enforcement in traffic safety. Zwonechek served as Administrator of the Nebraska Office of Highway Safety, where he worked for a total of 44 years. Zwonechek selflessly mentored many in the traffic safety community during his long and distinguished career.
• Read All About It – Teen Driver Safety: A story in Bankrate explores teen driver safety data, Graduated Driver License laws, how novice drivers can benefit from vehicle safety technology and much more. Read the article to hear from GHSA’s Pam Shadel Fischer and other safety experts.
• Want to Get Involved in Safety Research? The Behavioral Traffic Safety Cooperative Research Program (BTSCRP) is soliciting problem statements for FY 2026. Submit a problem statement that identifies a behavioral traffic safety topic that requires more research. The submission deadline is January 17, 2025. Learn more and submit a problem statement.
• Attention Parents: Parents and guardians hold the key to ending distracted driving, and it’s never too early to start the conversation. GHSA and State Farm® teamed up to create Generation Distraction Free, a website that provides resources, tips and tools to help parents talk with their kids of all ages about the importance of staying focused on the road no matter how they’re getting around. Learn more at GenerationDistractionFree.org.
• Looking for a New Podcast? GHSA CEO Jonathan Adkins joined safety experts at the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) International Conference for a panel discussion about the Safe System approach. The full discussion is featured on the AAMVACast podcast.
• Bike Facilities Guide: The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) released Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities, 5th Edition, which provides information on the planning, design and operation of bikeways along streets, roads and highways, as well as on off-street paths in urban, suburban and rural settings. SHSOs play an important role in educating the public and policymakers about the value of safety infrastructure that projects vulnerable road users.

Federal News

• Safety Groups Disappointed by Inaction: GHSA joined with other leading roadway safety groups to express deep disappointment that the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has missed a statutory deadline and made inadequate progress on a rulemaking calling for anti-drunk driving technology in new vehicles. Read the joint statement.
• Calls for Administrator Nominee: GHSA is among the safety organizations urging President-elect Trump to quickly nominate a proven safety professional to lead NHTSA. The nation’s traffic safety agency has had a Senate-confirmed Administrator for only three months over the last eight years. Read the letter.
• Seat Belt Alerts: NHTSA finalized a long-awaited rulemaking requiring seat belt use warnings for rear seats and enhanced warnings for driver and front passenger seats. This rulemaking, which was first announced at the GHSA Annual Meeting more than a decade ago, is long overdue. The agency estimates it will save 50 lives and prevent 500 injuries annually. Learn more.
• Data Collection Grants: NHTSA has announced the award of $171 million in grants to 19 states and territories to upgrade crash data collection systems. GHSA worked diligently to ensure these grants were included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and applauds their release. Read more in the NHTSA news release.
• VRUs in Driver Education: NHTSA released A Nationwide Review of Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety Education in Driver Education, which examines how much novice driver programs emphasize the safety of pedestrians, bicyclists and other micromobility road users. A 2023 GHSA report on teen driver safety recommends more bicyclist and pedestrian focus in driver education and training programs.
• Communications Calendar: NHTSA’s 2025 communications calendar, which includes dates and materials designed to highlight a range of key safety campaigns, is now available on the Traffic Safety Marketing website. There are both digital and printable versions of the calendar.

Addressing Drug-Impaired Driving

Cannabis-impaired driving is a growing roadway safety concern. There are numerous challenges that must be overcome, and additional data is a key part of the safety puzzle. Several states have deployed hundreds of SoToxaTM analyzers to help law enforcement identify drug-impaired drivers and provide more insight on the extent of this problem. Read more in this article.

This edition of Directions in Highway Safety is brought to you by Abbott. 

Abbott is committed to using medical science to deliver better solutions to help people live their best lives. This focus transcends traditional health care to include transportation, as law enforcement officials leverage Abbott’s oral fluid testing device to detect and remove drug impaired drivers from the road. This proven technology is critical for combating impaired driving, which has become even more challenging due to the legalization of medical and recreational cannabis, the continuing opioid crisis and the uptick in the use of illegal drugs, such as methamphetamines among others. Find out how you can sponsor the next Directions.